The Edge Network

“Edge” is a geographically distributed serving architecture that
ensures optimum response times for end-users requesting content, regardless of
where they are located around the globe.

To improve response times, Edge environments house only activity logic
and cached profile and offer information. Activity and content databases,
Analytics data, APIs, and marketer user interfaces are
housed in Adobe’s central data environments. Updates are then sent to the Edge
nodes. The central environments and Edge nodes are automatically synched to
continually update cached activity data. 1:1 modeling is also stored at each
edge, so those more complex requests can also stay on the Edge.

Each Edge node has all the information required to respond to the user's
content request, and track analytics data on that request. User requests are
routed to the nearest Edge node.

Core Edge site locations contain both a data collection center and a
data processing center. Edge site locations contain only a data collection
center. Each report suite is assigned to a specific data processing center.

Adobe currently has data centers on several continents, including
multiple regional locations across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Rather than respond to all targeting requests from a single location,
requests from the Edge environment closest to the point of request mitigate the
impact of network/Internet travel time.

The network also serves as a fail-over mechanism. If one edge node is
not functioning, the request is redirected to the next nearest node, to ensure
that the user is not served default content (a typical backup response when a
request cannot be completed).